In 2266, the forward phaser room of the USS Enterprise sustained heavy damage in battle with a Romulan Bird-of-Prey, causing the majority of the crewmembers stationed there to be injured and require treatment in sickbay. This left LieutenantRobert Tomlinson manning the room alone, although he was later supplemented by Lieutenant Stiles. Due to the battle damage, a phaser coolant seal was breached, causing the room to fill up with the toxic substance. This resulted in Tomlinson and Stiles both losing consciousness. Although Stiles was saved by Spock, Tomlinson died as a result of his exposure. (TOS: "Balance of Terror")

The phaser control room was a redress of the engineering set. The phaser station was borrowed from the same set – it was Scotty's main console first seen in "The Naked Time". It was also the station at which Kevin Riley sat at both of his series appearances and the station Kirk used to disable Khan's planned destruction of the ship in "Space Seed". When the set was modified during season 2 this panel was moved near the entrance to Engineering.